Wednesday, 28 April 2010

RECOMMENDED: Brackles – 6am El Gordos [Brainmath]

This one sided super limited platter comes to the public from the mysterious Brainmath label who have been carving a ghostly niche of their own over the last year or so with music from a diverse bunch of producers. Zomby, SBTRKT, Spiders, Airhead & James Blake and Untold have all brought tracks to the table that sit with the Brainmath's other worldly aesthetic but never mark it down as just one sound; it's as if the label simply provides a service, an outlet for small nuggets of vinyl brilliance released with no fuss or hyperbole.

The latest release comes from Brackles who as a producer, DJ, Rinse.fm regular, and label curator with Shortstuff for the Blunted Robots imprint has been pushing the flexible broken garage meets UK funky sound, bringing bumpy beats and plenty of energy to the dance. The first Brackles 12” to drop was a quality number called ‘Glazed’ on Berkane Sol which somehow harnessed the grimy attitude of Dizzee Rascal’s ‘I Luv U’ in its bumping’ drum patterns as well as harnessing a deep dubbed out techno-like atmosphere. Well, ‘6am El Gordos’ – named after a Nottingham boozer that saw numerous after parties laced with frantic sets of new and weirdly interesting music which helped shape some of the now prevalent Notts explosion - feels like the tropical cousin of ‘Glazed’. Brackles layers shuffling soca laced kick drums, pulsing bass tones that shake the floor with skipping snares and hats getting quirky on top, with synths that sound like they’ve been made under high air pressure for maximum energy. In typical Brackles fashion he underpins it all with soulful, loved up vocal snatches that bring am exceedingly summery edge to the production.